The LFOs, delay, and arpeggiator can all be synced, either to the internal clock or an external MIDI clock.

Two programmable position- and pressure-sensitive touch sliders take the performance controls beyond the standard pitch and mod wheels (also included).

Knobs for everything

There’s currently no polysynth that’s comparable to the Prophet 12.

And the Prophet 12 also stands out among the great polyphonic synths of the past. It’s got much more sophisticated capabilities than synths like a Prophet V or a Yamaha CS-80, plus the benefits of 35 years of advances in technology.

Is the Prophet 12 the best polyphonic synth of all time? Let us know what you think!

I am still on the fence.
What about the Prophet 12’s sound source, the oscillators?
Are they digital controlled? We know they are not analog, right? I’d appreciate any comments as Dave’s website still has no details.

You can add all the analog processing you want to a digital source and you will improve it but it’s still a digital source.

Digital isn’t necessarily bad. I’d take a D-50 over a Juno 60, a DX-7 over a CS-15, a JV-2080 over an Alpha Juno, or a Wavestation A/D over a MS-20 any day. Sacrilege, I know, but these intruments simply offer a greater degree of flexibility and a wider tonal palette. Even comparing them to “professional” analogue equipment, such as the Rhodes Chroma or Prophet T8 (both of which I consider “the best” synthesizers), they still come out with a features and sound that can’t be matched.

Are you kidding? The D-50 has (along with the JV series and its spin-offs) the most versatile envelopes of any synthesizer, it has four oscillators, it’s capable of both additive and subtractive synthesis or a hybrid between the two, and the onboard effects are actually fairly useful and far more versatile than most outboard. It also has excellent MIDI implementation, and a flexible architecture that is comparable to a modular synthesizer. Furthermore, while the D-50 excels at pads, strings and other sounds that swell and evolve, if a synthesist practices a little restraint with its features it’s more than capable of creating bass, lead and effects patches as well. My only gripe wit the D-50 is that it’s painful to edit parameters from the front-panel, making a PC running decent editor software or the PG-1000 controller a requirement.

Prophet T8!! Weighted poly aftertouch keyboard – the same one used in the Synclavier, which I might say is my favorite digital polysynth because of its wonderful keyboard, beautiful high-rate samples, nice sounding FM, and nifty performance-oriented interface! The Synclavier isn’t just a “workstation” but also a performance instrument. It’s kind of like Ableton Live but from the 1980s with an FM and additive synthesizer (in addition to the sampler), poly aftertouch keyboard, and several control surfaces.

The only real question I have on the digital oscillators is whether or not there is aliasing. Other than that these oscillators sound great on the demos, and the slop control will help analog things up a bit. You got to remember Dave Smith has taken digital and analog synths to great levels. He knows people care about “Analog Sound,” I’m not worried about the digital.

I don’t know how any of us can answer that question without hearing, and playing a Prophet 12, but I’d be inclined to say “no”. In my humble opinion the “best” synthesizer made by Dave Smith was the Prophet T8, which stands among other greats like the Arp/Rhodes Chroma and the Oberheim Xpander/Matrix 12. These synthesizers totally warranted a keyboard, as their keyboard’s supported polyphonic aftertouch and velocity, and they were very flexible in terms of sound palette.

In a thread where the site owner specifically proposes a slanted, controversial and blatantly unanswerable statement for consideration, isn’t the voice of moderation and sensible evenhandedness to be considered trolling?

For me personally on this moment,Yes.
The amount of oscillators and filters etc… is amazing.
+ FM!
Delays.
Everything is there.
And it’s brand new, so it will survive other older synths.
The oscillators are not analog but Dave explains that it’s necessary for FM.
And it looks awesome,the color,the wood,the knobs,the lights.
The only synth that comes near in my taste is a virus but I think that Dave’s synth will sound better in the range of oscillators and filters for me personally.
The character section is also nice.
Especially the amount of knobs is a winner for me.
I assume that the midi will work fine (Dave Smith).
And the price is a no brainer !

At this point, even without having tried it personally, I’m ready to blindly call it at least a part of triumvirate(as well as uniting force between those other analog and digital monsters):
Alesis Andromeda
Dave Smith Prophet 12
John Bowen Solaris

And I’m praying scandinavian synth gods, that the Nord Modular G3 is coming to expand the pantheon.

Music creation is so subjective I always ask myself what is the best synth for this section of the song. The title best synth ever really is dependent on what you’re trying to use it for. Sometimes the bast synth is a DX-11. I hate those “best instrument” titles. Is it cool? Damn right it is! Dave has really outdone himself!

Maybe this post should be renamed “Is ____ the best synth of all time?” the silliest question of all time?

Some musicians might say its the Model D and others might say its the Korg Triton. And they’re both right, so who cares?

The problem with this post’s question is that it assumes that more technology = better (since 99.999% of us are only judging this synth on tech specs). The best synths of all time are the ones that resonate with us, and we can’t know if the prophet 12 is one of those synths until we’ve tried it. For all the idiots who want to debate analog/digital/polyphony/whatever, perhaps stop pretending to be musicians and assume the title of technologists, or forget the silly debate and go make some great music!

P.S. synthesizers are get treated too much like computers, as every year a “better” model comes out. Only with Moog’s renaissance and the other analog products of recent has the industry started to realize there is such a thing as a timeless synthesizer, akin to a fender stratocaster or gibson les paul.

Yeah, except an original 1958-1960 Sunburst Les Paul Standard sells for hundreds of thousands of dollars on the used market now. Seriously, this comment isn’t an exageration. There’s plenty of reissue and new Les Paul guitars, but by virtually all accounts there are “timeless” guitars as well.

This is a really rad synth by the look of it so far. Perhaps we can only know how it stacks up once it has aged a bit and we get to know it? For instance, the Oberheim Four Voice was once considered clumsy and silly next to early Prophets, but as time went on, it became apparent that discrete (with the exception of some programmer components) Polyphonic Multi-Timbre architecture is fairly rare and organic/wonderful. This synth has the controls and sound to be great, but only time will tell if it stacks up in usefulness to everyone as a whole…

And again, this all comes down to our personal tastes. When I play the Moog Rogue, I feel as if its coming alive and clinging to my hands, responding to my breathing and heart rate, twisting under my fingers etc etc. I never got the same feeling with a Minibrute, amazing as it is, or the Korg Poly 800, unique as it is. The Four Voice is a dark haunted machine full of ghosts and stars that you can feel as you play it… When I play the Microkorg, I do not get the same power, but I use it as my main synth because it fits that role, and it is intuitive. Let’s talk about what we think the Prophet 12 can be used for! Let’s go nuts and fantasize about how this changes the modern synth scene!!

God I hate all these naysayers, consantly looking backwards. The Andromeda has more voices, but in all demos I’ve heard it doesn’t seem to have the ‘bite’ of the this new synth, such its rich though…I have also heard that they are starting to break down though. I think Dave Smith deserves real credit for putting time and effort to create a monster analog synth, the only like it avaialble in production. Sure if you’re rich go and buy a jupiter 8, or cs 80 and wallow in nostalgia, but this is NOW and we should celebrate the fact someone is willing to try and move things on. Who really gives a **** about digital or analog oscillators if it sounds awesome, thats the only criteria, surely to base a descision on? What does it SOUND like, its a synth, its not built to keep ****y ‘purists’ happy! If you don’t like it, go and build your own, design it from stratch, then put it into production and market it. Good luck. I’m buying one and it;ll make my very happy. Best ever? No such thing, there are many great synths but for this generation (unless it breaks down all the time) I think it will be a LEGEND!

Here is a little reality and for the record I agree with you. The future is progressing, not regressing and reissuing old synths, older technology and older ideas yet. Place 4 to 6 floating point 40 Bit DSP chips in a synth, and feed it the right code powerful enough to not only emulate analogue circuitry and I can assure you it will decimate any “true” analogue circuitry sonically. And I mean depth and sonically. Yet what does that mean, this is subjective to a large degree, yet there is science behind all of this and something if not most can be measured!

The next phase in analogue emulation/simulation is interpolation. I know for a fact that is the next wave. Certain simulators have already surpassed what analogue circuits can achieve.

This is the like the same idiotic argument of electric (digital) to petrol (analogue) cars….never mind that electric dragsters have smoked the petrol counterparts in drag racing, efficiency and pure performance.

In these days of excellent VST synths, it comes down to the whole experience of a physical synth. The knob per function already sets it apart from say a Jupiter 80 or Motif XF. Then you add the fine wood that you can feel and smell and the matte black surface and very elegant design of the logos, etc. The best ever, I don’t know because each synth suited its era. I know some people with Prophet 8 and they have to use it sparingly because it all sounds like a Prophet 8 sound. In the case of the Prophet 12, you can get some different sounding material out of it and use it much more. Utility plus the experience, got to have one.

This is so funny. We hear a 3 and 9 minute kind of crappy videos of it and debate whether its the best ever. In the end, hmmm it could be. I decided day 1 that it should be amazing but between the oscillators and character section you definitely have to play with it before judging it.

I’m of the belief every synth has its own personality and has something it does well, analog or digital. I wouldn’t classify any as being the best, I’ve owned and used a Pro One, Sh 101, Juno 60 & 106, Dx7, Moog Old School Voyager, Moog Minitaur and Moog Model D. I’ve used each when the song called for it because their personality suited and added to the song at hand!! I love them all and the Pro 12 sounds brilliant in my opinion!

About the P12, there is def a need for quality hybrid synths. The strength of digital is the infinite variety of waveforms. The weakness of digital is a thin, steppy filter. So the P12 takes the best of digital and analog. Plus, wavetable synthesis is hot right now. Hope DSI sells a lot of them. Thumbs up for them, Synthtopia (the land of Moogs and honey), and all synth lovers!

Difficult to pass judgement on a synth virtually nobody has ever seen or played, don’t you think?

And what’s your exact definition of “best”, anyway?

It certainly isn’t the “best synth” by voice count, even considering analog synths only. The Matrix-12 had 12 voices, and the A6 had 16! Digital synths have much higher polyphony, and virtual synths have even more.

In my experience (Prophet 08 owner), the DSI (Curtis) low pass filter has some severe weaknesses. The 2-pole mode is so lifeless, it’s close to broken.
So what’s with the LP filter in the Prophet-12? Any info on that? And how fast are the envelopes?

I could continue, but you are getting the point. It might be too premature to pass judgement on the new Prophet. From what I read on paper, it’s definitely interesting. But can it live up to the expectations and the $3000 price tag? At that price level, you’re in Voyager territory! Only time (and a lot of reviews) will tell.

The modular crowd has had no problem embracing digital tech into their modules, and it’s opened up some amazing possibilities that analog just can’t get. The hybrid of digital-analog brings us into fresh territory, just like the Evolver series did, but with some new features. The FM/AM per oscillator capabilities of the P12, whose routing and precision would be highly limited in analog, are going to surprise a lot of folks i think.

There will be lots of comparisons to the Andromeda, but I think the P12 goes far beyond with a larger mod matrix, 2 aux envelopes, FM & AM per oscillator (of which there are 4, plus a 5th sub square oscillator). The slop control which goes from 1-127 now, instead of like the P’08s 1-5, can make this poly sound like a pristine P5 or one that’s been dropped from the 3rd floor and has never been serviced. Dave says “We want to look forward” – I appreciate that. Something fresh!

Have you all seen the videos of comparisons between animoog for idevices and the real thing? It was clearly highlighting that the border between analog and digital becomes really discrete. We came a long way from analog to digital, with all vst’s at hand it gives you more possibilities. In the end what makes the old synth legendary is the music its made using musicians talents, and the people that used it. I got the feeling the most of the contemporary music is made by digital reinventions of the analog gear, but does it make the analog gear better? For beginning musicians analog is always to expensive, so they start in the digital zone, and mostly stay there

Trying to crown this (or any modern synth) “number one ever ever!!!” is silly. I own a Prophet-5 and personally found the Prophet ’08 a little disappointing, as its basic tonality wasn’t as “alive”. That said, it wasn’t awful, just not as nice, but the flipside are the obvious points or more reliable, more voices, does a lot more, etc. The DSI synths use the Curtis “all-in-one” chips; vintage polysynths use separate chips for each oscillator, filter, VCA and envelope (though the envelope shouldn’t affect audio much as it’s not technically in the audio path). With that said, ANY synth that uses voice chips of any kind isn’t really “discrete” electronics (i.e. separate resistors/caps, etc.) like a Moog Modular, for example. In fact even most non-voice chip monosynths use op-amps, so even they’re not real discrete electronics.

In my experience, the more “discrete” the circuits of a synth are, the better it sounds. But that means more circuitry, more expensive to build, probably harder to calibrate, bulkier and definitely more likely to break. This is why CS-80’s, Oberheim Two-/Four-/Eight-Voice, etc. sound so damn good. Jumping to now, it’s not practical to build instruments that way these days; they’d cost a fortune. I can’t imagine Dave Smith doesn’t know all this, and he’s done his best to make something practical that sounds the best it can given modern components. It goes without saying that he’s added a whole lot of extra sound-sculpting goodies that no vintage synth can touch. For those who MUST have the voodoo of vintage discrete, I guess you can still get an Oberheim Two- or Four-Voice from Tom Oberheim (not sure if he’s gotten around to building them), and they sound identical to vintage ones (I know, I have the honor of owning prototype #1 of the reissue). But trying to use this mess as a polysynth will be a bit of a hassle (but sound fabulous).

Not sure why people are comparing this guy to an andromeda. It’s a different animal. Andromeda may have more voices, but the P12 has more oscs. I have an Andromeda, a PEK, Virus, SH101, Prophet 600, etc. The list goes on, but I still plan on getting a P12 in a year or two, assuming it is not very incomparable to what I have.

I also think it’s premature to even question if it’s the best synth out there. it hasn’t even been released yet. What does make me happy, though, is that those of us that still appreciated digital can point to the P12 and say that digital does have value. I love both for their own qualities and hate mindless worship of one or the other. Dave Smith has always been ahead of the curve, and judging by the amount of complaining going on, I think he still is.

A person only ever needs 10 polyphony for a keyboard based synthesizer. Unless this is the Chrysalids, this thing will have you covered, with 2 voices to spare. The digital oscillators will only be limited by their resolution. Not a big thing; digital oscillators can sound great… but for FM? Is there FM on this unit? Not so much with digital filters, (sorry app heads). Also, the andromeda has 16 x 2 oscillators + sub per voice. That is a total of 48 oscillators at any one time. This has 12 x 4 + sub for a walloping 60 oscillators at any one time! Ahhh, who cares? Both are overkill! Hahaha! This thing is amazing though. and the demos have been impressive in that Namm booth with an iphone kinda way. But more input would be needed to say it is the ‘best’, as if there really could be such a thing.

(Its existence as real actuality however seems somewhat fuzzy… but they say they’ve sold one to Hans Zimmer)

I think the Schmidt should be the new top-banner figurehead of Synthtopia too.
It will probably have a production run slightly shorter than the CS-80 (ok, by a factor of 100?), but it’s legendary alright.

I’m one of those guys who bought a Prophet 08 rack version with the faulty pots. After three times of servicing (with deoxit and the like) I’m still waiting for a solution from DSI (one solution that does not mean paying another 250$, that is), so sorry DSI no more synths from you anymore. Besides, I do not like at all the filter of the Prophet. I just love my Slim Phattys (yes I have two of them), even if they cannot offer me tons of voices. Speaking of analog synths it all comes to the filter, and if you do an A/B comparison of the Moog filter vs. the Prophet’s you will know what I mean. Cheers.

I love the Korg Dss-1 with its great analog filters and hear also the Waldorf Wave which boost me away. Maybe when i listen to the this Dsi i will love it too. So many interesting Synths out there you can rock near everything! When not püt a fire on it and it will work too.

i own an Andromeda and my personal answer is: NO it isn’t the best synth of all time!! (watching the specs) digital osc are a delusion, DS answer: is to keep FM, well, if i want a FM synthesizer i buy a DX-7 or use FM of NI. Poly Evolver has 2 DCO and 2 digital oscillators, FM and RIng modulator too. So i think is all about the money, 24 dco costs a lot more than digital oscillators! the fact that P12 sounds amazing is another thing, but it isn’t an analog synthesizer!

I played it at NAMM and it was okay. I liked the sound of the Sub Phatty, Mini MS-20, and even the Analog four better than the Prophet 12. It pains me to say it, but it is not warm to my ears, but rather “glassy” as someone else has said. I want it to be the best, especially with 12 voices, but I can’t say it is. But maybe my perspective is skewed as an owner of a Jupiter 8 and CS-80. Maybe I just need to spend some more alone time with it without all of the crazy NAMM noise. It has a lot going for it with all of the flexible routing and grab-and-go knobs. (I will say that it about drove me crazy switching between presets because there is such a difference in level from one preset to another. They needs to tweak their factory settings.)

On Par if not a bit better. Solid knobs, chassis is like a tank, brilliant screen, overall great. Like I said, an incedible synth. I played with this thing for an hour and I heard sounds that I never heard before or sounds I didn’t think were possible to create with a synth. Subtractive, FM, and Wavetable synthesis under one roof plus the ability to modulate anything. Plus seperate outs for each layer, there are two synths in this thing. Don’t listen to these pricks who haven’t played or heard one note from it in person. The Prophet 12 is in a league of its own. And for those wondering, there are plans for a rack version. They wouldn’t tell me when, but it is in the works

It seems it shoudn’t matter what the oscs are but for some reason it sounded like a VA in person. And not the best VA either. I’d rather an Evolver with the multimode filter and distortion stuff. It had the benefit of sharp digital with some warm analogue oscs. I tried to get some nice strings out of it but they were just too rezzy sounding.

It sounds like a VA on Youtube. I don’t know what everyone is so excited about. Sure the specs are great, but the sound just seems so digital. I even prefer the sound of my Virus TI2 or Nord Lead if I want digital. I will test it out when I can, but for now, I am skeptical.

Looking like a nice one from Dave. I own the prophet 08 and had to replace the pots. Im pretty sure he learned his lesson. The 12 is obviously a different beast and sounds different from the 08. That being said I own a Moog Voyager and Minitaur. To my ears the Curtis filter just doesn’t get me going like a Moog filter. However I have enjoyed the 08 for its insane gritty saw leads when unison is stacked up. I cannot match the sonic nastyness with any hardware or soft synth I have used, and I been turning knobs well over 10 years. This earns the never ebay award for me.
The 12 has a bright future and glad to see so many synths companies producing them driving the cost of analog circuitry down. I cant wait until we have some new analog synths that will make us not wish we had 10k to buy a Jupiter 8.

I don´t know why some people say that the Andromeda voice structure is more limited than the P12… I mean, per voice: 2 analogue Oscillators (VCOs), 2 analog Sub Oscilators, 1 analog Ring Modulator, 2 analog Mixers, 2 analog filters (VCFs) (one Moog, one SEM), 1 analog Amplifier, 1 analog Panner. You can route the filters is series or parallel. There´s filter feedback. The sine waves of the osc and the ring mod can bypass the filters and go directly to the post filter mixer. You have linear fm, exponential fm, PWM fm and filter FM. 3 really complex envelopes, 3 really complex lfos, one flexible S&H. You have a step sequencer and arpeggiator. You have 16 of each in fact. You have an analog distortion based on the Rat pedal, plus a nice multi effects processor. And the mod matrix is really amazing. You have 3 audio ins, 20 audio outs, CV in to VCOs and VCFs, 16 bit knob resolution. A big Ribbon controller, a big display, an audio in trigger, chord memory, 16 voice polyphony, 16 part multitimbral with dynamic voice allocation, Unison with detune and number of voices, 16 zone keyboard spliting and/or layering, complex calibration, 3 colours of analogue noise, SEM filter with all outputs simultaneously available, ribbon can be split to be used as two independent ribbons, all VCO waveforms available simultaneously, Pulse wave have an independent VCA, noise or filter feedback can modulate VCO and or VCF, hard and soft sync. VCOs and VCF2 based on Moog Modular, VCF1 on Oberheim SEM. 4 pole LPF, 2 pole LPF, 2 pole HPF, 2 pole BPF, 2 pole Notch, and combinations with VCF2. Each envelope segment has a choice of 9 different curves to choose from. Portamento and wheels response too. 72 knobs, 144 buttons, two wheels, plus the ribbon. PCMCIA memory expansion. Velocity and aftertouch Fatar keyboard. Beat that!

Yeah man, you go!! Andromeda is DEEEEEP! People don’t even know. P12 sounds amazing and the controls look sweet especially with all those new fan dangled sound warp knobs, but really, the A6 to me can’t be beat, BUT, I would trade it for a JOMOX SunSyn in a second.